Gomez

I. INTRODUCTION

17 I conducted a bench trial from September 2–5, 2025, to untangle the rights and 18 responsibilities of a world class boxer, plaintiff/counter-defendant ANDY CRUZ GOMEZ 19 (“Cruz”), and defendant/cross-claimant NEW CHAMPION PROMOTIONS LLC (“NCP”) and its President and sole employee, JESSE RODRIGUEZ (“Rodriguez”),1 concerning two boxing promotional agreements: the Exclusive Promotional Agreement signed by Cruz and NCP on 23 November 8, 2022 (the “NCP PA”), and the Boxing Promotional Agreement signed by them and 24 defendant/cross-claimant MATCHROOM BOXING USA, LLC (“Matchroom”), effective May 4, 25 2023 (the “BPA”). With the parties’ consent, I severed declaratory relief claims by Cruz and NCP 26 27 to do so. See Dkt. Nos. 110, 118–121. The witnesses at trial were Cruz, his boxing managers 1 Yolfri Sanchez (“Sanchez”) and Alexy Ferrer (“Ferrer”), Rodriguez, Matchroom President Frank Smith (“Smith”), and NCP expert Stephen Bash. See Dkt. Nos. 118–121. The central problem presented is that neither agreement sets forth how NCP would be 5 compensated for its service of getting Cruz signed by a major boxing promoter (Matchroom). 6…